Abstract
The synthesis of polymeric materials starting from CO2 as a feedstock is an active task of research. In particular, the copolymerization of CO2 with epoxides via ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) offers a simple, efficient route to synthesize aliphatic polycarbonates (APC). In many cases, APC display poor physical and chemical properties, limiting their range of application. The terpolymerization of CO2 with epoxides and organic anhydrides or cyclic esters offers the possibility, combining the ROCOP with ring-opening polymerization (ROP), to access a wide range of materials containing polycarbonate and polyester segments along the polymer chain, showing enhanced properties with respect to the simple APC. This review will cover the last advancements in the field, evidencing the crucial role of the catalytic system in determining the microstructural features of the final polymer.
Highlights
The pervasiveness of polymers in our daily life is a consolidated reality in recent decades
The alternating ring-opening copolymerization (ROCOP) of CO2 with epoxides has offered a conceptually simple route for the synthesis of aliphatic polycarbonates (APC), which show a clear advantage in terms of biodegradability with respect to polyolefins [4,5,6]
Aliphatic polyesters are another important class of biopolymers that can be conveniently obtained by the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters [10,11,12,13]
Summary
The pervasiveness of polymers in our daily life is a consolidated reality in recent decades. In the last few years, there is a growing body of evidence that the large success of these materials has determined a negative effect on terrestrial and marine ecosystems with the presence of microplastics that have become ubiquitous on our planet [1] This situation has engendered the growing attention of the polymer industries and the scientific community to find biodegradable, more sustainable polymeric materials. APC, often display poor chemical and mechanical properties compared to aromatic polycarbonates, and the incorporation of epoxides with various structural features does not always result in an improvement in the final properties of APC [7,8,9] Aliphatic polyesters are another important class of biopolymers that can be conveniently obtained by the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of cyclic esters [10,11,12,13]. Metal-free terpolymerization of CO2 with epoxides and cyclic esters or cyclic organic anhydrides for the obtaining of2polycarbonate–polyester copolymers
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